A Quantitative 3D Motility Analysis of Trypanosoma brucei by Use of Digital In-line Holographic Microscopy

We present a quantitative 3D analysis of the motility of the blood parasite Trypanosoma brucei. Digital in-line holographic microscopy has been used to track single cells with high temporal and spatial accuracy to obtain quantitative data on their behavior. Comparing bloodstream form and insect form trypanosomes as well as mutant and wildtype cells under varying external conditions we were able to derive a general two-state-run-and-tumble-model for trypanosome motility. Differences in the motility of distinct strains indicate that adaption of the trypanosomes to their natural environments involves a change in their mode of swimming

Add-on topiramate reduces weight in overweight patients with affective disorders: a clinical case series

BACKGROUND: The weight-gain caused by many psychotropic drugs is a major cause for poor compliance with such medications and could also increase cardio-vascular morbidity among psychiatric patients. Recent reports have shown that the anticonvulsant topiramate causes weight loss in various patient groups. The drug has also shown effectiveness in open trials as a mood stabilizer in patients with affective disorders, but not in controlled trials in the acute treatment of mania. We used topiramate to treat 12 patients with affective disorders who had a body-mass index >30 kg/m(2). METHODS: Topiramate was prescribed as part of our routine clinical practice, as an add-on medication, or as a replacement of a mood stabilizer. Patients' weight was recorded in 1 to 2 monthly intervals. Patients were followed up for between 6 and 12 months. The final dose of topiramate varied from 200 to 600 mg/day. RESULTS: Topiramate was effective in reducing the weight in 10 out of the 12 patients. At six months the 12 patients had lost a mean of 7.75 kg (SD = 6.9 kg, p < 0.001) and at 12 months 9 patients had lost a mean of 9.61 kg (SD = 6.7 kg, p = 0.003). Three patients stopped the treatment: one due to side effects, one due to possible side effects, and one suffered a manic relapse and showed no sustained weight loss. There were no other clear changes in the course of illness of the patients. CONCLUSION: The evidence of a strong weight-reducing potential of topiramate is indisputable and clinically significant. Topiramate could be considered in the treatment of bipolar patients who are overweight, or whose concerns about weight gain compromise their compliance with long-term prophylactic medication. So far there is no evidence that topiramate has anti-manic effect and it should not be used as monotherapy

Uneven focal shoe deterioration in Tourette syndrome.

A 31-year-old single man (AB) sought neuropsychiatric consultation for treatment-resistant motor and vocal tics. He described himself expressing a total of 24 different tics, mainly facial twitches (eye blinking, raising eyebrows, mouth opening, lips licking, stereotyped grimacing) and inappropriate utterances (grunting, throat clearing, sniffing), since the age of 7. There appeared to be no family history of tic disorder. He reported occasional utterance of swear words in contextually inappropriate situations (coprolalia), and the urge to copy other people’s movements (echopraxia). Other tic-associated symptoms included self-injurious behaviours and forced touching of objects. A.B. met both DSM-IV-tr and ICD-10 criteria for Tourette syndrome, and also DSM-IV-tr criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (combined type) in childhood

Glutamatergic deficits and parvalbumin-containing inhibitory neurons in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We have previously reported that the expression of the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) for the NR2A subunit of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) class of glutamate receptor was decreased in a subset of inhibitory interneurons in the cerebral cortex in schizophrenia. In this study, we sought to determine whether a deficit in the expression of NR2A mRNA was present in the subset of interneurons that contain the calcium buffer parvalbumin (PV) and whether this deficit was associated with a reduction in glutamatergic inputs in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in schizophrenia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We examined the expression of NR2A mRNA, labeled with a ³⁵S-tagged riboprobe, in neurons that expressed PV mRNA, visualized with a digoxigenin-labeled riboprobe via an immunoperoxidase reaction, in twenty schizophrenia and twenty matched normal control subjects. We also immunohistochemically labeled the glutamatergic axon terminals with an antibody against vGluT1.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The density of the PV neurons that expressed NR2A mRNA was significantly decreased by 48-50% in layers 3 and 4 in the subjects with schizophrenia, but the cellular expression of NR2A mRNA in the PV neurons that exhibited a detectable level of this transcript was unchanged. In addition, the density of vGluT1-immunoreactive boutons was significantly decreased by 79% in layer 3, but was unchanged in layer 5 of the PFC in schizophrenia.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings suggest that glutamatergic neurotransmission via NR2A-containing NMDA receptors on PV neurons in the PFC may be deficient in schizophrenia. This may disinhibit the postsynaptic excitatory circuits, contributing to neuronal injury, aberrant information flow and PFC functional deficits in schizophrenia.</p